Mitt fails to deliver knockout punch

Instead, he won a very tight contest with Rick Santorum in the key state of Ohio, clinching victory by less than one percentage point after sweating the results until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

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But that didn’t stop the former Massachusetts governor — who did capture early wins in Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia — from telling a crowd here hours earlier that he’ll be the Republican nominee. Romney also predicted a November victory over President Barack Obama.

Despite the public optimism, the narrowness of the Ohio results leave Romneyland on the defensive after what aides and advisers had hoped would be a triumphant night. Instead, Romney remains in a pitched battle with Santorum, who won victories in Oklahoma, Tennessee and a surprise win in North Dakota.

Although Ohio’s popular vote was close, Romney argued that he has a decisive delegate edge in the state over the former Pennsylvania senator.

“Tonight, we’re doing some counting,” Romney said. “We’re counting up the delegates for the convention. It looks good, and we’re counting the days until November, and that looks even better. We’re going to take your vote, a huge vote tonight in Massachusetts, and we’re going to take that victory all the way to the White House.”

As the nominating contest is being played on a larger battleground, Romney’s aides and advisers have for days stressed their campaign’s delegate advantage. Santorum, despite the near tie in Ohio, is ineligible to win up to 18 delegates in some of the congressional districts where he is doing best, including along the state’s borders with Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Throughout the night, Romney advisers expressed confidence that they would ultimately win Cuyahoga and Franklin counties — which include Cleveland and Cincinnati — and indeed Romney’s margins in those late-return counties carried him to victory in the state.

To that end, Romney’s 14-minute speech here Tuesday night was mixed in nature. He delivered his standard attacks on Obama, suggesting the White House’s claims of economy recovery are fraudulent.

But the Republican didn’t offer any signature new phrases around which he can build a campaign message or, beyond perfunctory congratulations, refer to rivals Santorum or Newt Gingrich.